Although it might seem as if we look at the sky everyday, most of us probably take it for granted. The spaces in a folding screen (an important medium in traditional Japanese art) are largely taken up with gold grounds and gold clouds – it is unusual to find a work in which the artist consciously attempts to depict the sky in a realistic manner. The expansive blue skies in many doro-e (distemper paintings), Western-style paintings, and ukiyo-e date from the early modern era, indicating the influence of European art. Moreover, our point-of-view is usually trained on terrestrial activities, and the sky only rarely assumes a leading role. When you think about it, expansive depictions of the sky tend to be used to represent an unusual occurrence on the ground, such as an earthquake or war. Today, some artists have devised unique ways of shifting the once subordinate sky to the center of their works. The sky is visible, but we do not see it. By tracing changes in the depiction of the sky, this exhibition sets out to shed light on fluctuations in our perceptions as reflected in art.

Information

Duration	September 14 (Sat.), 2024－November 10 (Sun.), 2024 ※Some works will be replaced during the exhibition period.
Admission	General: 1000 yen (800 yen); University Students: 800 yen (640 yen); High-School Students/Seniors 60 and Older: 500 yen (400 yen); Elementary/Junior-High-School Students: 100 yen (80 yen) *Numbers inside parentheses ( ) are admission fees for groups of ten or more and for Shibuya residents.. *Elementary and junior-high-school students are admitted free of charge on Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays. *Shibuya residents are admitted free of charge on Fridays. *Persons with disabilities and up to one attendant are admitted free of charge. *Admission fees can only be paid in cash or with the Shibuya Ward cashless payment app "HachiPay".
Closed	Monday (except for September 16, 23, and October 14, and November 4, 2024), September 17 (Tue.) and 24 (Tue.), October 15 (Tue.), and November 5 (Tue.), 2024
Organized by: The Shoto Museum of Art